• visiblink@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    I’m a Canadian who started school when the change happened. Grade two, 1977: new rulers!

    I think it’s fair to say that we all ended up hybridized. Some things I measure intuitively in metric, others in imperial.

    People’s height? feet and inches.

    Grocery weights? pounds. If it’s in Kilograms, I quickly convert it.

    Grocery volumes (Milk, dairy products, shampoo, basically anything purchased in a container)? litres.

    Gasoline? Gallons or litres. Either is fine. But fuel economy is mpg.

    Temperature? Celsius outdoors, Fahrenheit indoors. We had an old thermostat when I was growing up.

    Carpentry measurements? Inches.

    Wrenches? whatever fits!

    Distances? It took a long time, probably fifteen years, but at some point, I stopped converting kilometres to miles. Now I just think in kilometres.

    • grue@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Grocery volumes (Milk, dairy products, shampoo, basically anything purchased in a container)? litres.

      Meanwhile, here in the US, we’ve got soda in liters but milk in gallons. Udder madness!

      Carpentry measurements? Inches.

      It amuses me that in metric countries, construction materials like plywood are often standardized to strange non-rounded measurements like 1220 x 2440 x 13mm because it’s actually just 4’ x 8’ x 1/2" in disguise.

      Wrenches? whatever fits!

      Interestingly, I can’t remember the last time I needed SAE wrenches. Even my old '96 Ford Ranger is metric, I think.

      • bpm@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Cars have been all metric since the mid-80s IIRC, to better standardise them for international sales. The Ranger was really a Mazda B-series, so it’s definitely metric.